I was amazed that Charlie Wright had Canvasback and Redhead a full week ago
in King County, so today I vowed to find my own in Thurston. It's been
maybe two years since I saw a Redhead in Thurston County but I still had
hopes. I met up with Steve Nord at the Interpretive Center on the South end
of the lake near the highway overpass.
>From here we saw:
2 P/B Grebe
6 Gadwall
500 A. Wigeon
1 CANVASBACK (female or 1st-year type, found by Steve. Noteworthy for me
since I was expecting to find one in their normal wintering spot on the
North end of the lake along the western shore)
7 Scaup Sp.
6 Bufflehead

We then moved down to the first bus stop for a scan of more of the South
section:
3 P/B Grebe
5 D/C Cormorant
25 N. Shoveler
8 Gadwall
120 A. Wigeon
3 Green-winged Teal (flybys-G/Ws can be hard to find here)
230 R/N Duck
8 Bufflehead
1 Bald Eagle (heard)
2 Mew Gull
2 R/B Gull
3 B. Kingfisher
1 Y/R Warbler (flyover)

Percival Cove (I believe this is what it is called. The pond opposite the
south portion of lake):
15 P/B Grebe (good number)
1 G/B Heron
1 Hooded Merganser (fem.)
4 Com. Merganser

The North section of the lake (as divided by the train tracks) held:
10 Gadwall
1 REDHEAD (juv or male coming out of eclipse. Head was a warm brown/rusty
color, no white patches like on nearby Scaup/R-Neckeds. Body/back was
gray-brown but not the nice gray of breeding male, bill light color with
dark tip and light ring behind tip. Bulkier body than the surrounding Scaup
but smaller than the Gadwall. Darker chest, but not nice black of a
breeding bird. I found the bird in the large mixed Scaup flock way across
the lake, we later drove up towards the flock and got better looks. Much of
the time he was sleeping, and sunlight was a problem...lots of shadows, so
the bird may be brighter than we saw. This is the same place where one
showed up a few winters ago.)
5 R/N Duck
150 Scaup (mixed flock)
78 Bufflehead
12 Ruddy Duck (3 winter males with nice white face patch)
4 Mew Gull
2 R/B Gull
Also here was a HARBOR SEAL which seem to occasionally pop up on the wrong
side of the fish-ladder area. Haven't figured out how they do that yet.
Good birding,

Jason Paulios
Jpaulios at earthlink.net
Olympia, WA